July 5, 2021

UK-Built Mars Rover Passes Tests (Source: Space Daily)
A new and upgraded parachute for the UK-built Rosalind Franklin Mars rover has successfully passed a series of high-altitude tests, bringing further exploration of the Red Planet one step closer. Rosalind Franklin has been built with government backing to try to detect life, past or present, on the Red Planet. After several weeks of delays due to bad weather the latest tests to determine the parachutes' fitness for use in the harsh conditions of Mars saw the descent vehicle dropped from a stratospheric balloon at an altitude of about 29 kilometres above Sweden. (7/5)

Universe Expansion Debate May Be Close to Resolution (Source: Space Daily)
Our universe is expanding, but our two main ways to measure how fast this expansion is happening have resulted in different answers. For the past decade, astrophysicists have been gradually dividing into two camps: one that believes that the difference is significant, and another that thinks it could be due to errors in measurement. For several years, each new piece of evidence from telescopes has seesawed the argument back and forth, giving rise to what has been called the 'Hubble tension.'

If it turns out that errors are causing the mismatch, that would confirm our basic model of how the universe works. The other possibility presents a thread that, when pulled, would suggest some fundamental missing new physics is needed to stitch it back together. Wendy Freedman, a renowned astronomer, made some of the original measurements that resulted in a higher value of the Hubble constant. But in a new review paper, Freedman concludes that the latest observations are beginning to close the gap. That is, there may not be a conflict after all, and our standard model of the universe does not need to be significantly modified. (7/5)

Equipment for Shooting 1st Movie in Space Delivered to ISS by Russia (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's Progress MS-17 cargo spacecraft has delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) the equipment for shooting the first feature film in space known by the working title "Challenge," according to documents by Russian state space agency Roscosmos. The space freighter was launched by the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and docked to the ISS early on Friday. The equipment weighs about 13.75 kilograms (31 pounds), the documents read. (7/5)

Blue Origin Approaches Period of Maximum Dynamic Pressure (Source: GeekWire)
The next 31 days arguably could rank as the most crucial month so far in the history of a space company that’s headquartered in Kent, Wash., but also has employees in locales ranging from Florida and Washington, D.C., to Alabama, Texas and California. The red-letter date is July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, when Bezos and three crewmates are scheduled to take the first crewed flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship in West Texas.

But there are a couple of other dates that loom large on Blue Origin’s timeline: The big one is Aug. 4, the Government Accountability Office’s deadline for deciding whether Blue Origin and its space industry partners should be reconsidered for a lunar lander contract from NASA’s Artemis moon exploration program. Laura Seward Forczyk, a space industry consultant at Atlanta-based Astralytical, doesn’t think the GAO is going to upset NASA’s award to SpaceX this time around. “I don’t see the GAO awarding in favor of Blue Origin and Dynetics,” she said. “I see that going nowhere.”

Senate legislation gives NASA a 60-day deadline to pick a second team to develop a lunar landing system, but as deliberations continue, space officials are likely to plead their case for a longer-term LETS. Blue Origin and its industry partners, meanwhile, are likely to plead their case for receiving support from NASA more quickly, in part to keep their team together and on track. By some accounts, 800 workers spread across the National Team were focusing on the Human Landing System project. (7/5)